The Pub Discussion Board

True enough on the Stalin bit. Heck he was responsible for some of the mass graves in Poland.

(posted from the Item Information Page)

Four things:

1.  It's not the job of my reviewers to catch or fix typos.  Their job relates to the story content, not to the mechanics of the words used.

2.  That being said, at least one of them did, in fact, catch this typo, and told me about it.

3.  You try proofreading at five o'clock in the morning, and see what you might miss.

4.  Was this all you had to say about the chapter?  That I let a boo-boo slip in?

Eric Storm

PS:  And 5. If you're going to chastise - no matter how facetiously - someone for a typo, perhaps you shouldn't have one in your own post?  "Reviewer's" is a possessive.  Plural words are not formed with apostrophes.  -- Or were you insinuating that I only had one reviewer, and so this is a contraction of "Reviewer is"?  See?  Two can play this game... 

Loved the chapter, and what a pleasant surprise on David's new side quest as well as a tidbit of information on his darker side.  I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

At a guess each part is held by one of what i like to call the fundamental element races dragons knomes aries undine and in this case garuda

(posted from Chapter 4: September)

Yeah.. if I was proofreading at 5 am, I too would miss it, haha..

The chapter was pretty interesting, I am interested to see which path David will walk, as well as which Lady is his number one

Great chapter as always Eric.

(posted from Chapter 4: September)

I wouldn't be surprised if he has to go to a total of 5 different nations religious leaders (1 down) in order to have them divine whether or not to tell David where the piece they know about is, or by whom it is being guarded.  I'm betting something as long lived and as powerful as a Dragon guards each of the pieces.  I also wouldn't be surprised if one of the places/people David has to go visit is the elvish nation (Chasco, or some such), and might have to deal with Devin again.  Man would it suck if Devin's deceased tribe was the only group of elves entrusted with the ability to divine the object and it's protector.  Making piece with Devin, if she's the only one that can divine the protector of the thing, might be a bit of a stumbling block or a character builder for David and Devin.  But, don't mind me and my maniacal mind. 

If all pieces were guarded by dragons, he could bribe Bispy with a truckload of steaks...or several.

So, your saying david might have to get her out?  Muahhhh hahaha

Wow... so much hate, and irrationality.

neolyn wrote:

Oh yeah Devyn is in  prison, it's benn 2 or 3 years now ?

It's been less than one.

By the way what happen to non-human after their jail time ? Humans are deported to earth, but what about other ethnic group ?

First, not all humans are deported after prison.  Second, since Earth is basically a human-only zone, other races do not have the option of being exiled.  Each nation would create its own rules as to how to deal with their miscreants.

It's a very tame chapter, maybe the tamest (most tame?) of the saga.

I can name at least one that was definitely more sedate than this one.  There were probably a half dozen of them.  This one at least contained a battle, no matter how brief.

And I don't like THAT!  You're lucky I love the story more I would not have enjoyed the chapter otherwise. >.>"

Um... no... you're lucky.  Makes no difference to me at all.

A bit disappointed David didn't pork the Queen but that would not have fit the story (would that not be treason against the king ?).

Committing a personal affront to the king is not treason.  Treason is giving aid to an enemy of the kingdom.  It would certainly be unethical on both of their parts (unless the king and queen have "an understanding", but we don't know about that at all...)  Believe it or not, I did, actually, consider doing this scene, but rejected the idea because of the disrespect for the king it would show on David's part.

Surprised David didn't actually pork anyone at all actually.

In every book in the series except this one, there was an average of one sex scene every two chapters.  This will be one of the few chapters in this book that doesn't have a sex scene.

So it's September and David is not back to school ( for obvious reasons); I guess he won't be back any time soon so,  since many ..."unfinished" plots are at Woodward, what will happened to them? I mean, there is Emile, the rider guild,
healer Hall who needs the good piece of David, and his 8th year to finish.

Let me burst your bubble right now:  David is NEVER going to sleep with Healer Hall.  I don't want to make Jefferson drive down here to kill me.

The Peg Riding Guild is not in any way part of the school.  And frankly, there's very little to be said about the guild at this point.  Even if there was no war, the growth of the guild is... administrative.  (read, "boring").

What's happening to other characters? Glendia and Viviane are with David and we didn't see them much,

the missions David was on didn't require more than one person.  The rest of his troop would have been helping protect the ANFCC.  Not exactly something to devote words to.

I'm not even talking about my little Gwen and her family,

Olissa

Taking care of David's house.

and Flo ?

Living her own life.  She doesn't even live in Bolmont.  Exactly how did you expect this character to still be in the story?  She left the school at the end of year 6.  The last we saw of her was in book 6.  She was mentioned once or twice in book 7, but did not appear.

Sam and Annie ?

If by Annie, you are referring to Healer Hall, both of these people are doing their jobs at the school.  How do you expect to see what they're doing, when David is not about to go back up to the school?  Even if he had the free time to wander around, he doesn't know if he can trust anyone at the school right now.

It's like they don't exist anymore.
It's all focused on David. OK, he's the Protagonist so it's normal, but I think it's too much focused on him.

It is not actually possible for a story to be "too much focused" on the protagonist.

It's like you're throwing away world building. I  find it a bit sad because since it's war, it's the best opportunity to develop things.

...I'm throwing away world building... by showing you a different part of the world.  HUH?  Your comment is completely illogical.  Yes, it's a war... which means that David will be in a whole new situation, and be interacting with a different set of people.  Just what did you expect me to develop among these established characters through the war, given that they are not in the army, and thus not part of the war effort?

I didn't think you'll go the "chosen one" path, it's so... not you  to do that ? I mean I don't remember any of your stories where something like that happened.

Depends on what you mean by "chosen one".  Dragonseekers involved finding "the one".  The Artifacts series is, in its own way, about a set of "chosen ones".  And most of my stories talk about an individual who stands out among his peers.  Now, if by "chosen one" you're talking about the "there's a prophecy" kind of chosen one, then no, I don't have any stories like that.

I still liked the chapter though... So you know... keep writing please ?

Nope.  You didn't like the chapter, so I'm never going to write another word.

Eric Storm

Great chapter setting several things into motion. I really like the scene with Christa, seeing her show some emotion was a nice touch. I'm interested to see what David does with the Aegis if he ever assembles it.

Of course, you realize that divination is a real thing in Dugerra, so prophecies would be somewhat normal...  Though usually short-term... but we have no idea how far into the future something like a dragon can see...

As to the other characters:  You could probably count on one hand - certainly on both of them - ALL the scenes in EVERY Woodward book that didn't have David in them.  The book is about David, despite the series' name.  As I'm sure you've noticed throughout my writing, I'm not one who often gives glimpses of what's going on outside of the main character's point of view.  But, again, as I said, the side characters you mentioned aren't doing anything interesting.  They're just living their lives.  There's nothing to read about, and there's nothing to write about.  I mean, Flo is probably working as a used SkyRider salesman (can you see her doing anything else... or maybe she's selling SkyRider insurance!  )  There's not really anything to read about in that.  Similarly with Gwen and Jess... they're running Gwen's G3 (Gadgets, Gifts and Gewgaws... G3  I guess I could call her store G4, but that network folded...)  I mean, yes, they're visiting Pendergrast Manor frequently, but honestly, there's not a lot going on THERE.

In fact, that is precisely the reason I haven't yet started chapter 5 yet!  The first scene I have planned is a visit home for David... and I haven't the faintest fucking idea what to write about, because nothing is happening there.

Why would you want me to turn David into a pariah with the royal court?  That makes... no sense.  Apart from being outside of David's character, it plot-wise would achieve only bad things.  Nothing useful would come from that.

And as to Annie, she's not the only woman in the story he hasn't slept with.  To date, he hasn't slept with (in alphabetical order by first word):

Carol Anderyancy (post office),
Chloe Kirkland,
Dean Lengel,
Healer Hall,
Madame Abernathy,
Nancy (Rimohr office),
Prof. Thropp,
Sheila (Security Office Manager),
Sylvia (works in Housing),
Tracy (Dean Lengel's secretary), or
Zyla Garibaldi,   

So he has hardly "porked everyone but Annie."  As to why he won't sleep with Annie in the story... there are personal reasons for that... apart from the fact that it would make no sense, plot-wise, as David doesn't set about breaking up marriages...

Oh, and he never slept with Cherise Cabalon, either. 

As usual in every one of the Woodward books, what you will see is David at center, and whoever happens to be around David at the time.  Now, I realize that the number of people around him that I'm writing about has dwindled over the years.  Didn't you feel that way after you left high school or college (if you went)?  No, the entire book is not going to be about David doing things by himself, but yes, there are significant plot lines in which he will not have help.  It just so happens that this chapter was the one where a lot of that got kicked off.

*shrugs*

Eric Storm